Launch Tragedy
p. 113 · Read in the full issue
"No One To Blame" In
No one was to blame when 13 people were drowned after the 20 ft launch Ambess sank in a sudden squall between Rabaul and Watom Island, P-NG, on January 5 (PIM, Feb., p. 103).
This was the finding of the coroner, Mr, Paul Quinlivan, at an inquest into the tragedy held in the Rabaul Coroner’s Court in early June. Mr. Quinlivan also found that the 13 people had died from accidental drowning.
The court was told that a group of 43 natives com mandeered the Ambess to take them from Vunamarita Beach, near Rabaul, to Watom Island, 12 miles away, for a Brukim Tambu ceremony.
Mr. Quinlivan compared Brukim Tambu to a State funeral or a sovereign’s corona tion.
Mr. Quinlivan said the sink ing was “one of the greatest tragedies the territory of New Britain had ever known”. The Ambess had been overloaded and the person in charge of the launch, a youth, Benjamin Benson Matetele, had been un willing to put to sea. But the passengers had commandeered the boat.
The coroner did not blame the natives for wanting to go to the ceremony because a tribal leader had died and for many it would have meant great shame if they had not attended.